Hubby had been wanting a ferret for a long time. I kept saying NO. In 1996, he surprised me with Froderick. I didn't want him and was afraid of him. It took me about 3 days to overcome my fear and then, little Froderick drove me crazy following me, playing, just being a ferret. Well, we had to get him a friend.

I found an ad for Igor in the local paper. I went to pick him up. I was so angry at the people who had him, that I ragged on them for 1/2 an hour. He was being kept in a small animal carrier. The litter box took up at least half of the floor space. He was being fed cat treats and coffee creamer. He was so malnourished and dehydrated that he nearly didn't make it. I hand fed him for a month. I miss him sitting on my lap, lapping up duck soup. He wasn't much of a playmate for Froderick because at first he was so sickly and then because he turned out to be a grumpy old man in a ferret body. He only wanted to tend to his baby, his baseball cap, and didn't want to be bothered by any other ferret.

When a co-worker told me her client had to find a new home for a ferret, I jumped at the chance to bring Inga home. She was a fragile little girl, very laid back, pretty much a loner. Again, not much of a playmate for Froderick. Inga, however, loved to give us kisses. We decided to try again.

I couldn't find any single female ferrets (ya know, 2 boys, 2 girls, even numbers), but I did find a pair of females needing a home. So we went to pick up Elizabeth and Helga. Elizabeth still had baby hairs, she was so soft, like a powder puff, and very sweet. Helga was a biter. We were warned. So naturally, what did I do? Stuck Helga right in my face, kissed her on her nose and she promptly bit me on the lip! LOL I truly felt untold amounts of ferret love for this wee one. She was ignored because she bit. She bit because she was ignored. She would be ignored no longer and, with lots of love and attention, she did finally quit biting, well, except for earlobes. Our numbers were now uneven and I was determined to have an even number of boys and girls.

Someone else at work wanted to find a home for their ferret. Ours would be at least the 3rd (and now forever) home for Darwin. Hubby was thrilled. Darwin's coloring was like a Siberian Husky hubby had up until the Husky was "accidentally" killed by some relatives. Darwin's our only "mitt" and he is a beauty. A sweet boy who doesn't get into any trouble, except when a new ferret has joined the busyness. He likes to think he's the Alpha ferret, but, honestly, I'm the Alpha ferret. :)

Then one day I came home from work and saw Igor in the kitchen. When I walked into the living room, I saw another ferret the same color as Igor. I said, "Who's that?!!!" Hubby said, "Igor." I said, "No, it's not. I just passed Igor in the kitchen and he's still in there." Hubby said, "He ran up my arm and begged to come home with me, but I can take him back." I said, "No, he's home now, we CANNOT take that ugly boy back." Hans turned out to be a tool-stealing thief and a total joy. He really was a beautiful ferret and he, too, stole my soul.

Inga had had adrenal surgery and just never really recovered. She got to feeling really poorly, so I took her to the vet to help her to Rainbow Bridge. The vet drew some blood and found she was insulinomic, so she came back home with me with a script for prednisone. While at the vet, the tech asked if I knew anyone who would take a ferret. Someone had brought a little adrenal girl in and wanted her put down because they didn't want to pay for surgery. The vet refused and asked the people to just surrender her to the office, which they agreed to. They turned and walked out the door and didn't look back. They didn't even bother to give the vet any information on this ferret. The vet performed the surgery and then set out to find a home for this sweet little girl. So I did a quick count in my head: Froderick, Igor, Hans, Darwin, Inga, Elizabeth, Helga. Hrm one more girl makes 4 boys, 4 girls. Yeah, how could I refuse? I picked Ab up the next weekend after she recovered from her surgery.

One day I was reading on a ferret board that a couple just across the IL state line needed to find a home for their ferret. Well, after much discussion, hubby and I met the couple half-way between here (Central IN) and where they live and brought Madelyn home. She's sweet most of the time but can give the boys a run for their 'tone when she gets wound up.

Madelyn was a carrier of ECE. We had 8 ferrets down with ECE at one time. It took us a month to get through it. I was force-feeding 8 ferrets every 4 hours round the clock except when I was at work. We administered sub-q fluids to those who needed them. We had a mess on our hands. At the end of it all, Ab had a severe seizure, probably due to insulinoma. I called the vet several times over the next 1/2 an hour or so and did as I was told. During my last call to the vet, she stated that Ab sounded too far gone and she didn't believe even she could bring her out of the seizure, but I could bring her in. The vet stated she believed Ab would be gone by the time we got to the office, so we tried to make Ab comfortable and let her pass to the Bridge at home.

A year or so later, we bought a house and the ferrets now have their own room. I went in the ferret room one morning to find Inga left for the Bridge during the night. A few months later, I found Igor in severe distress. I took him to the vet and they assisted him to the Bridge. Then a few months after that, Hans was having trouble breathing. I thought it was a respiratory infection. I took him to the vet only to find his lungs filled with cancer. There was no hope and he was suffering. He was helped to the Bridge. Froderick had developed adrenal disease. While he was being checked out, a mass was found in his belly and his chest and he had an enlarged heart. I took him to another vet for a second opinion. It was confirmed he was not a surgery candidate. We put him on Lupron and waited until he let me know it was time to help him on his journey to the Bridge. I suspect that Igor had a lot of cancer in his chest as his symptoms were the same as the symptoms of Hans. After so much loss in less than 2 years, we decided 4 ferrets were enough.

That is until a guy hubby works with decided to find a new home for his ferret. We waited and waited and waited for the guy to let us bring that ferret home.

In the meantime, I saw on a ferret board, again, that a ferret needed a home, but this one was in FL. Luck would have it that the shelter operator was coming to OH. I made a deal to trade ferret bedding that I'd made equal in value to the adoption fee for Freddie. He is a trip. A real wild man. He brings a smile to my face even when he's being his naughty self. Freddie had been in 3 homes and then the shelter in his short 8 months of life. I had to give that boy a forever home. We met the shelter operator in OH and brought Freddie home. To this day, I don't understand how anyone could give that boy up. I had to practically pry Freddie from the shelter operators hands.

A short time later, an Animal Control Officer for the city I work for mentioned they'd picked up a ferret and had it at the shelter. Well, I couldn't have that. The next day I took a carrier in to work and went to pick up Audrey. I went straight to the cage she was in, the ACO unlatched the door, I stuck my hand in and pulled this little girl with the most beautiful face out. After looking her over briefly, I brought her to my face and kissed her, she kissed me back. LOL The entire time the ACO was sputtering about Audrey possibly biting me. When she saw Audrey kiss me, she laughed and commented that Audrey could tell I was a ferret person.

I was in a chat room one evening and someone mentioned that her ferret and her husband did not get along. The girl was always biting the husband, but got along fine with all the other members of the family. There's a story behind this not to be gone into here. Anyway, a friend convinced the woman to find that ferret a new home. My sucker light started flashing as the ferret was in MI. Not long after, we met the woman and her daughter half-way between us and them and brought Gracie home. She hasn't bitten either of us except in play and finally realizes she's in her forever home. I can tell because she gives me kisses on my mouth and finally comes out and plays with the rest the busyness and comes to the door to greet whomever is standing there.

Remember that ferret that belonged to the guy hubby works with? Not long after Gracie, Hubby finally brought the Zoe home. I put her in a cage because we had to go to the oral surgeon. While hubby was getting his teeth worked on, I sat in the waiting room and pondered the size of Zoe. I'd never seen a female ferret as big as she was. After arriving home and getting hubby settled, I went to the ferret room and took a closer look at Zoe. Zoe isn't a girl after all, "she" is a boy. Awhile later I opened the ferret room door and looked at our new arrival laying in a hammock in the cage. I asked him, "Do you want your name to be Clark?" No response. I then asked, "Do you want your name to be Rusty?" He lifted his head. I repeated these 2 questions 3 times. Each time there was no response to "Clark" and each time he lifted his head to "Rusty." Rusty chose his own name. He's our jumper. If the door is left open on the ferret room, he can scale the plexiglass and pull himself up and over. I found him in the garage one day. He'd gotten out while I had 5 of his siblings at the vet for shots.

One of my brothers called and said he worked with a woman who was going thru a tough time and a divorce and needed to find a home for her 2 ferrets. After much phone tag, I took pictures of our ferrets and their room to her home to show her that her boys would have a great new home. She was very particular where her boys ended up. I had to laugh out loud when the boys came bounding into the room from their cage. They were huge! Eddie's lost a little bit of weight being free roam in their room, but Clark is just as big as he ever was. I brought Eddie and Clark home the weekend before Christmas 2001.

Sadly, Rusty was called to the meadow at Rainbow Bridge the fall of 2002. His body had suddenly stopped producing red blood cells or was destroying them as fast as they were being made. After a surgery and 8 blood transfusions, I brought him home. His blood count was so low that there really wasn't anything we could do for him. A short while later he let me know that he was ready to go. I took him to the vet and had him assisted on his journey.